Butler Baseball at Coffeyville for Region 6/Plains District Opening Round

EL DORADO, Kan. – The Butler Community College baseball team is all set for the postseason as they open the 2025 Plains District Tournament on the road Wednesday.

The Grizzlies (25-26, 16-16) will travel to Coffeyville for a best-of-three series at Walter Johnson Park with the Red Ravens (32-18, 19-13) in the opening round of the Plains District Tournament.

Bracket: Click here to view full bracket

Game 1: Wednesday at 3 p.m.

Game 2: Thursday at 3 p.m.

Game 3 (If Necessary): Friday at 1 p.m.

Video: youtube.com/@RedRavenSportsNetwork

Live Stats: Butler Baseball Schedule Page

Butler finished in fifth place in the West Division of the KJCCC while Coffeyville took fourth in the East. The winner of the three-game series advances to play in the Plains District Championship, an eight-team tournament held at Dean Evans Stadium in Salina from May 13th through May 17th. The winner of that receives a bid to the 2025 NJCAA Juco World Series in Grand Junction, Colo., from May 24th through May 31st.

This marks the first time since the 2017 season that the Grizzlies have not hosted the opening round at McDonald Stadium in El Dorado.

These two teams are familiar foes, having met three times this season all in midweek action. The Grizzlies hold a 2-1 edge in the season series winning 8-4 in Coffeyville on February 17th and 9-8 on March 11th, again on the road. Coffeyville won 7-6 in El Dorado on April 15th in Butler's final midweek game of the season.

Butler is 8-13 in road games this season while Coffeyville is 22-7 at home. The Grizzlies ended the regular season just 2-8 in their last 10 games. The last series of the season saw Butler go 1-3 vs. the Colby Trojans as Colby overtook Butler for the four seed in the West. Colby swept Butler in El Dorado while the Grizzlies picked up a split on the road. Coffeyville was 6-4 in their last 10 to close the season including a doubleheader split with the West one seed Barton Cougars on April 30th in Great Bend.

Offensively, Butler is paced by redshirt freshman infielder Cooper Rasmussen who is slashing .379/.484/.753 on the season, all team-highs. He has hit a KJCCC West leading 16 home runs and also leads Butler with 66 hits, 53 RBI, 15 doubles and 131 total bases.

A pair of freshmen in infielder Jackson Ellison and outfielder Jaden Rose have also had strong rookie campaigns as Ellison is hitting .326 with 57 hits, 49 RBI and eight home runs while playing multiple spots in the infield for Butler. Rose is hitting .319 with 14 doubles, eight home runs and 42 runs driven in to go with 11 stolen bases. Redshirt freshman Amarion Sailer leads the team with 16 stolen bases while hitting .307 with 47 hits and 25 RBI.

On the pitching side, freshman starting pitcher Shane Holman leads Butler with a 7-2 record throwing three complete games while holding a 5.70 ERA. He has struck out 50 compared to just five walks in 53.2 innings of work. Redshirt sophomore Bradyn McClure holds a 5.00 ERA, striking out 43 in 36.0 innings pitched with a 4-2 record. Sophomore reliever Kage Ralstin came on strong down the stretch. He holds a 5.86 ERA with 26 strikeouts in 27.2 innings. His last outing was a start on the road at Colby in which he struck out a career-high eight and walked none in an 11-3 Butler win.

For the Red Ravens, outfielder Eric Bacon leads the team with 63 hits, 50 runs scored, seven home runs, 16 doubles and a .389 average among players with enough at bats. Bacon has driven in 43 runs and stolen 29 bases which ranks third best in the KJCCC East. Utility player Landin Midgett is hitting .353 with 61 hits and 37 RBI.

On the pitching front the Red Raven with the most innings thrown is Cross Dowd having thrown 60.0 innings. He holds a 5.55 ERA striking out 50 and walking 25 with opposing hitters hitting .273 off him. Jackson Waggoner is right behind Dowd having thrown 58.1 innings, but Waggoner's 2.93 ERA is tops on the team among players with 30.0 or more innings thrown. He has a 45/15 strikeout to walk ratio and a 5-1 record.

 Team Comparison (Hitting)

Team Comparison (Pitching)